Mister Heavenly Poke Robotic Modern Fun in Video for “Makin’ Excuses”

Music News Mister Heavenly
Mister Heavenly Poke Robotic Modern Fun in Video for “Makin’ Excuses”

Mister Heavenly is a supergroup with members plucked from the bud of 2000s indie rock: The trio includes Ryan Kattner (Man Man), Nicholas Thorburn (The Unicorns, Islands) and Joe Plummer (Cold War Kids, Modest Mouse, The Shins). They just released Boxing the Moonlight on Oct. 6 via Polyvinyl to much critical acclaim and Twitter tongue-wagging, and the album’s ethos was really just to keep it interesting by recording a collection of songs that don’t get bored of themselves. And the result is songs like “Dead Duck,” which has a Nine Inch Nails-worthy grind, and “Beat Down,” which tickles you with joyful piano and pop.

The group’s new video for “Makin’ Excuses” (directed by Thorburn and Jason Tippet) opens with white noise and the sound of an android remote control, which features throughout the film as actor Tony Revolori (Dope, Spider-Man: Homecoming) and Dre Babinski of Steady Holiday take their androids, Jon Daly (Kroll Show) and Angela Trimbur (The Good Place) on an outing. It’s funny because of a) people pretending to be robots and b) people making over-recycled excuses for why they have to act like robots. These excuses are featured in an anxious lyrical format: “I have work in the morning / I think I ate something with poison.”

Other notable audio-visuals: A melody in the beginning is reminiscent of “Heart It Races,” and there’s a red kite that could mean love, death, Christmas, the flag of the robot apocalypse, or a minimalist aesthetic choice that changes genres with the wind. In any case, check out Mister Heavenly’s tour dates across our great continent below, beneath their “Makin’ Excuses” video and their 2011 Daytrotter Session from the Paste Cloud.

Mister Heavenly Tour Dates:

October
20 – San Diego, Calif. @ Casbah #
21 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Resident #
22 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Swedish American Hall #
24 – Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge #
25 – Seattle, Wash. @ Barboza #

November
02 – New York, N.Y. @ Le Poisson Rouge
03 – Allston, Mass. @ Great Scott
04 – Providence, R.I. @ Alchemy
05 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Johnny Brenda’s
06 – Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
08 – Toronto, Ontario @ Drake Hotel
09 – Columbus, Ohio @ Rumba Cafe
11 – Chicago, Ill. @ Lincoln Hall

(# = w/ Fan)

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